1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cable car type suspended vehicles and more particularly to a mechanism for rapidly arresting the swinging and/or pitching of the vehicle as it approaches a station for docking thereat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a known arrangement, it has been proposed to damp or arrest the swinging motion of a cable car type vehicle as it approaches a station for docking thereat, by using a pair of essentially straight bars which are each formed with curved portions at one end. These bars are arranged in a manner which resembles the cross section of a trumpet and are each individually mounted to the cable car station through a plurality of shock absorbers. This arrangement is intended to stablize the vehicle as it approaches the station and align it for safe collision-free docking. However, the above arrangement has suffered from a number of drawbacks. That is to say, as the vehicle approaches and enters the zone where the arrester projects from the end of the station, a roller or rollers provided on the lower side of the vehicle come into contact with a bar. The bar is displaced compressing one or more of the shock absorbers so that after some of the swinging motion has been damped the vehicle "bounces" back toward the second bar to impact thereagainst. However, as the first bar is displaced away from the second as a result of the first impact, the distance between the bars is increased, increasing the distance through which the vehicle must swing before impacting against the second bar. This of course increases the free swinging time between the bars (during which time almost no kinetic energy is converted) hence increasing the time required for any one oscillation of the vehicle to be damped. Further, as the first bar is mounted on shock absorbers which have been compressed by the initial impact, the vehicle is apt to reimpact on the first bar before the shock absorbers have re-elongated. This of course reduces the effectiveness of the absorber and increases the shock imparted to the vehicle. Hence it has been necessary to slow the vehicle undesirably just prior to docking to allow the required time for the swinging of the vehicle between the bars, which are displaced away from each other by each impact, and for the shock absorbers to appropriately re-elongate. A further drawback is encountered in that if a series of vehicles follow one and another in quick succession into the station, the "trumpet bars" as they will be referred to hereinafter, are apt to not be properly aligned with the guide rail or the like used to hold the vehicle in proper position when docked due to the prior compression of the shock absorbers. The shock absorbers also vary from unit to unit, especially after prolonged use which further enhances the possibility of improper alignment or increased time required for the two trumpet bars to re-assume their home positions.